As we prepare to unveil our next issue of Health Affairs next week, let's take a quick look back at the October Issue dedicated to Tackling Structural Racism in Health.
Here are 10 things we hope you'll learn from the issue (it's open access ??).
- Twenty-nine states in the US have “predominantly harmful” laws when it comes to structural racism-related legal domains. Premature mortality rates were highest in those states with predominantly harmful laws. (
Jaquelyn (Jackie) Jahn
)
- The Structural Racism Effect Index measures exposure to structural racism effects in nine domains and this new tool is freely available online. (
Zach Dyer
)
- Political power is a fundamental determinant of health, and community organizing provides a vehicle for building political power in response to health-threatening conditions. (
Jamila Michener
)
- Current funding policies, including regulations that define what can be considered direct costs in a grant and the prioritization of Western evidence-based practices, do not allow Indigenous community-based organizations to sustain themselves and provide effective care. (Arielle R. Deutsch)
- The US is a world leader in immigration imprisonment, which costs about $2 billion a year, and Black and Latinx immigrants overwhelmingly bear the harms. (
Chanelle Diaz, MD, MPH
)
- Medicaid expansion had the biggest impact on lowering uninsurance rates in historically redlined areas. (
Jason Semprini
)
- Racial resentment among White survey respondents was associated with support for higher administrative burdens (such as monthly income verification and work requirements) in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). (
Simon Haeder
)
- Clinical algorithms and artificial intelligence can discriminate by race and ethnicity, but efforts to mitigate bias vary widely and there is no consensus on best practices to reduce bias. (
Michael Cary, Jr.
)
- From 2015-2019, Black Medicare disability beneficiaries with opioid use disorder received buprenorphine at the lowest rates compared to other races and ethnicities. All minoritized racial and ethnic Medicare disability beneficiaries received buprenorphine at lower rates than White beneficiaries. (Jennifer Miles)
- Rates of food insecurity, and participation in food assistance programs, vary among different Asian American origin groups. At least one in four low-income Asian American adults experienced food insecurity from 2011-2020. (
Milkie Vu
)
On October 3, we hosted an Issue Briefing featuring a panel of distinguished authors and experts. The panel presented their work and engaged in discussions on topics including “Politics and the Legacy of Racism,” “Use Of Race And Ethnicity Data,” “Documenting Racism,” and “Responses to Racism.”
You can revisit the entire virtual forum here.
We wanted to highlight the reading of the poem proc prun / roses from Health Affairs contributor
Ryan Petteway
.
Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch our events and podcasts. We have many video abstracts from authors on this theme issue as well.
Health Affairs thanks Gilbert Gee of the University of California Los Angeles and Ruqaiijah Yearby of the Ohio State University, who served as theme issue advisers.
We would also like to thank the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California Wellness Foundation, and the Episcopal Health Foundation for their financial support of this issue.
